Twister head drive



March 6, 1962 WQE. BIERLIN TWISTER HEAD DRIVE Filed .Feb. 27, 1959 INVENTOZR ATTORNEYS on a Samson which is part of the machine frame.

3,023,566 TWISTER HEAD DRIVE William E. Bierlin, Ambler, Pa., assignor to A. W. Bierlin Co., Ambler, Pa., a partnership Filed Feb. 27, 1959, Ser. No. 796,059 1 Claim. (Cl. 57-104) The present invention relates to drives for twister heads of spinning frames.

A purpose of the invention is to increase the uniformity of yarn produced on a spinning frame by avoiding slipping of bands on tin cylinders.

A further purpose is to increase the life of a twister head drive on a spinning frame.

A further purpose is to reduce the down time of a spinning frame due to failure of the twister head drive.

A further purpose is to eliminate the use of tin cylinders in twister head drives for spinning frames.

A further purpose is to increase the band or belt life on twister head drives for spinning frames.

A further purpose is to facilitate the replacement of worn bands or belts on twister head drives for spinning frames.

A further purpose is to balance the operation of twister head drives on spinning frames.

Further purposes appear in the specifications and in the clm'ms.

In the drawings I have chosen to illustrate one only of the numerous embodiments in which the invention may appear, selecting the forms shown from the standpoints of convenience in illustration, satisfactory operation and clear demonstration of the principles involved.

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary diagrammatic perspective of a twister head drive on a wool spinning frame according to the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary diagrammatic axial section through a wool spinning frame showing the twister head drive spindle with the improved pulleys of the present invention.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged axial section showing two pulleys in accordance with the invention at a coupling.

FIGURE 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

Describing in illustration but not in limitation and referring to the drawings:

In the prior art practice, considerable difficulty has been encountered in connection with the drive for false twist spindles carrying twister heads on a spinning frame.

In the usual procedure, a speed reducer drives a series of twister head arbors which are in line and respectively carry cast iron hubs which respectively connect from hub to hub by tin cylinders. The drive from one cast iron hub to another and from one arbor to another is through the circumference of the so-called tin cylinder which is made by wrapping a piece of tinned steel sheet around the hubs and soldering it in place. Each of the drive arbors is journalled in a Samson hearing which is mounted The series of arbors connected by tin cylinders in a wool spinning frame of the character under discussion is likely to be of a length of from 30 to 48 feet.

On the outside of the tin cylinder, at numerous positions along its length, are placed bands or belts which connect with the whorls on false twist spindles.

It will be evident that the circumference of the tin cylinder is maintained under load, and is likely to be subject to deformation at least within the elastic range, particularly in starting up the machine.

The following difiiculties have been encountered in States atent Some of this arbormal yarn is hard, and produces defects in the face of carpet.

There is relatively little stiffness provided by the tin cylinder, so that the arbors are subject to misalignment. This is particularly true when floors supporting the machines settle, as incident to the presence of moisture or the like. In many New England mills, when starting up spinning frames on Monday after a week-end of inactivity, failure occurs in as many as one tin cylinder on each spinning frame, on the average. This is very serious, as the time required to replace a tin cylinder is of the order of 8 to 16 hours, and the spinning frame must be inactive while this job is done.

Even if a tin cylinder does not fail because of misalignment, the life is limited to about 4 years, because the bands or belts wear though the tin cylinder. There is no tracking groove provided. This condition is aggravated by the fact that the bands, being of nylon or rubber, are highly elastic.

In each end of each tin cylinder there is a hole through the cylinder to gain access to the set screw which secures the hub to the shaft. The band or belt located at this point is likely to have a considerably shorter life than other bands on the tin cylinder.

A further difiiculty is encountered because when one tin cylinder breaks, it is very difiicult to replace it Without destroying the next tin cylinder, so that even when a tin cylinder is replaced it is necessary usually to replace two tin cylinders together.

As the tin cylinder deforms, its dynamic and static balance changes, so that it is very diflicult to maintain the tin cylinder in a balanced condition.

In accordance with the present invention, I have developed a drive for the false twist spindles provided with twister heads which eliminates the use of conventional tin cylinders entirely and provides a rigid suitably cast pulley for each pair of twister head spindles, with a balanced arrangement of driving bands.

Thus referring to the drawings, I provide a series of arbor sections 20 running the full length of the machine and connected directly end to end by split couplings 21 to form one long connected arbor. At one end the speed reducer 22 drives the first arbor section, and at the remote end the last arbor section is journalled at 23. Along the length of the machine Samsons 24, as well known, carry Samson bearings 25 which journal the arbor sections.

Each split coupling 21 has halves 26 which are joined together by bolts 27, as best seen in FIGURES 3 and 4.

At intervals along the machine opposite each pair of false twist spindles I provide a rigid pulley 28 suitably an aluminum alloy casting having a hub 30 which surrounds the arbor, a web 31 extending outward from the hub suitably in disc form, and a rim or flange 32 which is provided with two circumferential suitably V tracking grooves 33. The hub is secured on the arbor by a set screw 3-4.

The hub desirably is off-set, extending only one direction from the web disc, and the rim 32, as best seen in FIGURE 3, overhangs the web disc in both directions so as to form a hollow space 35 which may extend around the coupling or around a portion of a Samson bearing, permitting more accurate alignment with the false twist spindle. Each of the grooves 33 receives one of the bands 36. One band extends from the pulley to a front whorl on one side of the machine and the other band extends from the pulley to a back whorl on the other side of the machine, so that the pull laterally on the arbor is balanced at each pulley. The grooves 33 are suitably symmetrical with respect to the width of the rim of the pulley, and this further aids in balancing the lateral pull.

Each band extends to and passes around a whorl 37 on 3 one of the false twist spindles 38 which is provided at the top with a twister head top 40 and is operating upon a roving 41, as well known in the art.

No attempt is being made to reproduce the main drive of the machine, which may be of any standard or well known form.

The false twist spindle drive of the invention has several advantages:

The life of the pulleys 28 according to the invention is at least 3 times that of the tin cylinders, based upon experiments conducted to date.

The band life or belt life is improved at least 200%, due to greater concentricity, freedom from distortion of the pulley, better balance, and the fact that there is no set screw opening or the like extending through any one of the belt paths.

It is possible to align the belt paths more accurately with the false twist spindles because the pulley 28 can partially overhang a coupling, and pulleys can be reversed as shown in FIGURE 3 to overhang opposite sides of a coupling, nad also pulleys can partially overhang at Samson bearing.

The pulley 28 is capable of precise static and dynamic balance and this was never possible with the tin cylinders. Furthermore the arbors can be more closely aligned as to axial position than was possible with the tin cylinders. The fact that the bands on each pulley are arranged in pairs compensates for lateral pull. By limiting the number of bands on a pulley to two, it is possible to obtain much more precise alignment than in the tin cylinder which drove many different bands and had a long relatively unsupported span between hubs.

It should be remembered that the driving arbor is likely to turn at a speed of approximately 5000 r.p.m. and the false twist spindles are likely to turn at a speed of 1200 r.p.m.

In a long spinning frame there are likely to be 212 spindles and in a shorter spinning frame there are likely to be 100 spindles.

One of the great advantages of the invention is that more uniform yarn is produced due to the fact that the drive of the prior art was likely to slip or skid slightly, causing certain ends of yarn produced by certain false twist spindles to be unduly hard. This results in abnormal behavior of the hard yarn ends in a woven carpet, producing serious defects in the fabric.

The device of the invention lends itself to the use of endless bands or belts rather than those which are separated and connected, since the endless bands can be installed in about an hour and a half by the present inven tion, instead of 8 to 16 hours as in the prior art.

In viewof my invention and disclosure, variations and modifications to meet individual whim or particular need will doubtless become evident to others skilled in the art, to obtain all or part of the benefits of my invention without copying the structure shown, and I, therefore, claim all such insofar as they fall within the reasonable spirit and scope of my claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A twister head drive for a spinning frame comprising a shaft composed of shaft segments in longitudinal alignment and shaft couplings connecting said shaft segments, pulleys mounted on the shaft at spaced location, twister heads, whorls on the twister heads, said pulley locations corresponding to said twister head locations on the spinning frame, the axis of said shaft being substantially level with the plane of the said whorls, said shaft having a diameter less than the diameters of said pulleys, rims on the circumferences of said pulleys, grooves on the said rims adapted to receive in engagement bands for driving twister heads on the spinning frame, said grooves having a width approximately equal to the width of the bands and bearings which journal the said shaft sections.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 80,216 Pusey July 21, 1868 296,148 Delmage Apr. 1, 1884 296,377 Atwood Apr. 8, 1884 894,500 Hitchon July 28, 1908 2,391,302 Evans Dec. 18, 1945 2,471,906 Smith May 31, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 673,777 France Oct. 14, 1929 701,492 Germany Jan. 17, 1941 523,348 Great Britain July 12, 1940 

